Over 50 elected officials from all over the five boroughs are calling on the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) to issue an emergency declaration to address the dangerous lack of heat and hot water in many developments across the city, in order to speed the procurement process to replace out of service boilers.
“As a progressive city, we have a requirement to protect our most vulnerable residents. The hundreds of thousands of individuals and families who call public housing home should not be forced to suffer in the cold. An emergency declaration would allow your agency to jump-start the procurement process and install much-needed, permanent boilers that are already in the pipeline at a swifter pace,” states the letter, which is addressed to NYCHA Chair and CEO Shola Olatoye.
The full letter can be read at http://on.nyc.gov/2EaEUuY.
“A declaration of emergency is a common sense act NYCHA can take to streamline the procurement process, and it is heartening to see that so many of my colleagues from across the five boroughs agree. Clearly, the signatories on this letter understand the urgency to act immediately on behalf of the more than 400,000 tenants who call NYCHA home,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who first called on the agency to declare an emergency in a letter sent last month. “And if some aspect of City, State or Federal law hinders the process, it is incumbent upon City Hall, with all its resources at its disposal, to take action and build coalitions for change, not to throw up its hands.”